Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and President of UN General Assembly Discussed Stopping Violence in Syria

31.07.2012

Nr 220–E

At his meeting in New York yesterday with President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet expressed deep concern over the developments in Syria and noted that the UN has a leading role and responsibility for finding a solution to end the violence. “The crimes against the people of Syria must stop. We support the efforts of the UN and the Arab League to end the civil war,” Paet stated. “Estonia will continue to contribute to the UNSMIS supervision mission in Syria in accordance with the mandate of the UN Security Council,” he added. Al-Nasser stated that on 2 August the General Assembly will once again vote on a resolution regarding Syria that was proposed by Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Arab group. Paet said that possible war crimes must also be investigated. “The UN must fulfil its leading role in order to end the violence and killing in Syria and to uncover the path towards stabilising the situation in Syria,” he added.

At their meeting, Paet and Al-Nasser also spoke about supporting the importance of rule of law in the world and Estonia’s work as the president of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC). “Priorities for Estonia are developing rule of law and fighting against impunity in the world,” said Paet. “As president of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC, we feel it is essential to help new countries join the ICC and thereby achieve the global jurisdiction of the court,” he said.

Paet and Al-Nasser also talked about the reform of the UN General Assembly during their meeting. “We feel it is essential to increase the authority of the General Assembly and make its working methods more effective,” said Paet. “We also support carrying out debates on current topics and high-level meetings during the General Assembly – for example, the debate on the peaceful resolution of conflicts held at the beginning of the current assembly was very timely,” he added.